The  Relations  Between  the  Early  Dutch 
and  the  Indians  as  Affecting  the 
Subsequent  Development  of 
the  Colony  of  New  York 


By 

JOHN  ALDEN  LLOYD  HYDE 


izx  ICtbrts 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


"When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
" Ever  thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


The  Relations  Between  the  Early  Dutch 
and  the  Indians  as  Affecting  the 
Subsequent  Development  of 
the  Colony  of  New  York 

By 

JOHN  ALDEN  LLOYD  HYDE 

Hobart  College,  Class  of  1924 

Awarded  the  One  Hundred  Dollar  Prize  for  Hobart  by  the  Society  of 
Colonial  Wars  in  the  State  of  New  York  in  its  1924 
Competition  in  certain  New  York  State  Colleges 


PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE  AUTHORITY  OF  THE 
COUNCIL  BY  THE  SECRETARY 

Printed  from  the  Income  of  the  Clarence  Storm  Memorial  Fund 


AUGUST,  1924 

Publication  Number  32 


THE  TUTTLE,    MOREHOUSE   &  TAYLOR   COMPANY,   NEW   HAVEN,  CONN. 


THE  RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  EARLY  DUTCH 
AND    THE    INDIANS    AS    AFFECTING  THE 
SUBSEQUENT  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE 
COLONY  OF  NEW  YORK 

Commercial  Relations 

The  course  of  Dutch  settlement  in  America  was  predetermined 
by  a  river  which  runs  its  length  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from 
the  mountains  to  the  sea  through  the  heart  of  a  fertile  country  and 
which  offers  a  natural  highway  for  transportation  of  merchandise 
and  for  communication  between  colonies.  The  region  which 
Hudson  had  discovered  possessed  on  the  seaboard  a  harbour 
unrivalled  in  its  advantages ;  having  near  its  eastern  boundary  a 
river  that  admits  the  tide  far  into  the  interior;  extending  to  the 
chain  of  the  great  lakes  which  have  their  springs  in  the  heart  of 
the  continent;  containing  within  its  limits  the  sources  of  large 
rivers  that  flow  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  to  the  Bays  of  Chesa- 
peake and  of  Delaware  inviting  to  extensive  internal  intercourse 
by  natural  channels,  of  which,  long  before  Hudson  anchored  off 
Sandy  Hook,  even  the  warriors  of  the  Five  Nations  availed  them- 
selves in  their  excursions  to  Quebec,  to  the  Ohio,  or  the  Susque- 
hannah;  with  just  sufficient  difficulties  to  stimulate  and  not 
enough  to  dishearten; — New  York  united  most  fertile  lands  with 
the  highest  adaptation  to  foreign  and  domestic  commerce.1 

Along  the  great  river  which  the  Dutch  called  the  "Mauritius," 
in  honor  of  the  Stadholder,  Prince  Maurice,  there  dwelt  many 
native  tribes,  and  Indian  settlements  were  very  numerous  about  the 
region  where  it  flows  into  the  sea.  These  were  the  first  with 
whom  the  Dutch  traders  came  in  touch  and  in  order  to  understand 
the  relations  which  the  newcomers  had  with  their  savage  neighbors 
a  brief  account  of  the  various  tribes  is  quite  essential. 

The  Indians  were  divided  into  a  number  of  independent  tribes 
and  nations.  The  valley  of  the  Mauritius  was  inhabited  chiefly 
by  two  aboriginal  races  of  Algonquin  lineage,  afterwards  known 


3 


among  the  Dutch  hy  the  generic  terms  of  Mohicans  and  Sanhikans. 
These  two  tribes  were  subdivided  into  numerous  minor  bands 
each  of  which  had  a  distinctive  name.  The  tribes  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river  were  generally  Mohicans;  those  on  the  west 
side,  Sanhikans.  They  were  hereditary  enemies ;  and  across  the 
waters  which  formed  the  natural  boundaries  between  them,  war- 
parties  frequently  passed,  on  expeditions  of  conquest  and  retalia- 
tion. But  however  much  the  tribes  of  River  Indians  were  at 
variance  among  themselves,  they  were  sympathetic  in  their  enmity 
against  the  powerful  Five  Confederated  Nations,  whose  hunting 
grounds  extended  over  the  region  westward  and  northward  from 
what  was  later  Fort  Nassau.2  Long  Island  was  occupied  by  the 
savage  tribe  of  Metowacks,  which  was  subdivided  into  various 
clans.  Staten  Island,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay,  was 
inhabited  by  the  Monatons  and  inland,  to  the  west,  lived  the  Rari- 
tans  and  the  Hackinsacks ;  while  the  regions  in  the  vicinity  of 
Sandy  Hook  were  occupied  by  a  band  called  the  Nevesincks.  To 
the  south  and  west,  covering  the  center  of  New  Jersey,  were  the 
Acquamachukes  and  the  Stankekans ;  while  the  valley  of  the 
Delaware,  northward  from  the  Schuylkill,  was  inhabited  by 
various  tribes  of  the  Lenni  Lenape  race,  collectively  known  to  the 
Dutch  as  the  "Minquas."3 

The  "Island  of  the  Manhattans"  was  so  called  "after  the 
ancient  name  of  the  tribe  of  savages  among  whom  the  Dutch  first 
settled  themselves."4  This  tribe,  which  inhabited  the  eastern 
shore,  was  always  very  obstinate  and  unfriendly  toward  the 
Hollanders.5  The  tribe  north  of  the  island,  which  was  the  most 
conspicuous  in  the  wars  with  the  Dutch,  was  the  Weckquaesgecks.6 
The  Mohicans  raised  their  wigwams  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the 
upper  river  opposite  the  Mohawks  and  ranged  over  the  land 
reaching  to  the  Connecticut  River.7 

When  the  Dutch  began  the  settlement  of  New  Netherland  all 
the  Indians  residing  along  the  Mauritius  from  its  mouth  up  to 
Catskill,  and  those  residing  on  Long  Island  and  in  Connecticut 
adjoining  the  Sound,  were  in  subjection  to  that  confederacy  known 
to  the  Dutch  as  the  "Maquais,"  to  the  French  as  the  "Iroquoise," 
and  to  the  English  as  "The  Five  Nations,"  and  paid  them  a  yearly 
tribute.8     The   famous   Five   Nations   were  made  up  of  the 


4 


Mohawks  with  the  Oneidas,  the  Onondagas,  the  Cayugas,  and  the 
Senecas.  Their  country  stretched  from  the  Hudson  to  the  River 
Niagara  and  Lake  Erie,  a  distance  of  over  three  hundred  miles, 
and  its  breadth  varied  from  fifty  to  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles. 
But  their  power  extended  far  beyond  these  limits  over  dependent 
tribes  on  the  north  and  east.  They  were  in  a  constant  state  of 
warfare  with  their  Algonquin  neighbors,  who  offered  a  formidable 
resistance.9  It  is  alleged  that  the  Mohawks  had  two  thousand 
warriors  about  the  year  1629. 10 

The  Dutch  had  continual  intercourse  with  the  tribes  belonging  to 
both  the  Five  Nations  Confederacy  and  the  Mohicans.  It  was 
with  them  that  they  traded.  It  was  with  them  that  they  formed 
alliances  and  bought  lands,  obtaining  permission  to  erect  forts  and 
trading-houses.  It  was  from  them  that  they  had  leave  to  plant 
colonies,  make  improvements,  and  convert  wastes  into  well  culti- 
vated farms.11 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  colonist  from  Europe  met  the 
Indian  in  a  threefold  capacity,  as  a  neighbor,  as  a  customer  and 
trader,  and  as  a  foe  opposed  to  encroachments  upon  his  hunting 
grounds.  The  Indians  gave  to  the  Dutch  traders  a  very  friendly 
reception.  They  sold  them  furs  and  provisions,  and  treated  them 
like  brethren.  But  the  Christians  did  not  treat  the  heathen  fairly. 
The  payment  for  lands  in  all  cases  was  a  mere  farce  and  of  value 
only  in  creating  temporary  good  feeling  between  savages  and 
settlers.  Moreover,  the  earlier  concessions  of  land  were  made 
under  a  total  misconception:  the  Indian  supposed  that  the  new 
comers  would,  after  a  few  years  of  occupancy,  pass  on  and  leave 
the  tract  again  to  the  natives.12  It  did  not  take  many  years  for  the 
Indians  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  white  men  who  had  come  to 
their  shores,  and  as  time  passed  the  realization  slowly  dawned  that 
the  trader  and  colonist  had  kept  them  in  deceptive  ignorance  of  the 
relative  importance  of  what  they  gave  and  what  they  received. 
Hence  an  antagonism  grew  up,  inherent  in  the  very  blood  of  the 
Indian  after  a  generation  of  association  with  the  Europeans.  As 
the  pioneer  penetrated  deeper  into  the  hills  and  followed  new  lakes 
and  streams  he  found  himself  often  opposed,  although  hospitality 
to  the  individual  was  never  lacking  among  the  Indians,  but  the 
difficulties  which  he  encountered  only  served  to  urge  him  on  to 
greater  efforts. 

5 


Ploughshare  and  Tomahawk 

At  first  Holland  sought  commerce  rather  than  extension  of 
empire.    After  the  discovery  of  the  great  river  by  Henry  Hudson 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company  lost  no  time  in  sending  ships  to 
trade  with  the  natives  and  the  year  1610  witnessed  the  departure 
of  the  first  trading  vessel  for  the  newly  discovered  region.  The 
States  General  of  the  Netherlands,  in  the  early  part  of  the  year 
1 614,  granted  a  patent  to  certain  merchants  for  an  exclusive  trade 
on  the  Mauritius.    In  this  grant  the  country  was  styled  New 
Netherland.    The  company  the  same  year  built  a  fort  and  trading 
house  on  an  island  in  the  river,  about  half  a  mile  below  where  the 
city  of  Albany  now  stands.    At  this  time,  and  for  some  years 
after,  controversies  existed  between  the  Five  Nations  and  the 
Mohicans  in  relation  to  the  alluvial  lands  on  the  east  side  of  the 
river.    But  the  Dutch,  shortly  after  their  removal  to  Fort  Orange, 
invited  the  hostile  tribes  to  an  entertainment  in  the  fort  and 
prevailed  upon  them  to  settle  the  matters  in  controversy  and  bury 
the  tomahawk.13    This  seems  to  have  been  the  first  establishment 
formed  by  the  Dutch  in  the  New  Netherland.    It  was  judiciously 
selected  for  defence  against  the  savages,  and  it  remained  the  center 
of  barter  throughout  the  period  of  Dutch  occupation.  Toward 
the  latter  part  of  the  same  year  the  company  erected  another  small 
fort  and  a  trading  house  at  the  southerly  end  of  Manhattan  Island. 
To  this  establishment  the  name  of  New  Amsterdam  was  given.  In 
161 5  the  company  constructed  a  small  fort  on  the  very  site  of 
Albany,  and  in  1618  built  a  redoubt  at  the  Kingston  landing  and 
established  a  post  at  Esopus.    Between  the  years  1616  and  1620 
about  twenty  persons  belonging  to  the  company  went  from  the 
fort  on  the  island  below  Albany  to  what  is  now  Schenectady,  where 
they  entered  into  a  compact  with  the  Mohawks,  from  whom  they 
bought  some  land  and  erected  a  trading  house.     This  they 
surrounded  with  pickets  and  fortified.    In  the  year  1621  the 
States  General  made  a  grant  of  the  whole  country  to  the  Dutch 
West  India  Company  and  this  date  may  be  taken  as  distinguishing 
the  era  of  trade  from  that  of  settlement,  which  was  only  to  begin 
three  years  later. 

The  ship   "Nieu  Nederlandt"   arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the 

6 


Mauritius  in  May,  1624,  with  over  thirty  families  on  board.  The 
leaders  began  at  once  to  distribute  settlers  with  a  view  to  covering 
as  much  country  as  was  defensible.  Some  were  left  in  Manhattan, 
several  families  were  sent  to  the  South  River,  others  to  the  Fresh 
River,  and  still  others  to  the  western  shore  of  Long  Island.  The 
remaining  colonists  voyaged  up  the  length  of  the  Mauritius, 
landed  at  Fort  Orange,  and  made  their  home  there.  From  the 
time  of  the  founding  of  settlements,  outward-bound  ships  from 
the  Netherlands  brought  supplies  for  the  colonists  and  carried 
back  cargoes  of  furs,  tobacco,  and  maize.14  The  year  after  the 
colonists  arrived  the  value  of  furs  exported  amounted  to  27,125 
guilders,  about  $11,000  in  value,  and  two  years  later  it  reached 
$19,000. 

In  1626  the  Island  of  Manhattan  was  purchased  from  the 
Indians  for  sixty  guilders,  and  a  block-house,  surrounded  by  a 
palisade  of  cedars,  was  built  at  its  southern  extremity,  and  called 
Fort  Amsterdam.  About  this  fort,  the  headquarters  of  the 
colony,  a  little  village  slowly  grew  up.  Staten  Island  was  also 
purchased  from  the  Indians  and  specimens  of  the  harvest  were 
sent  to  Holland  in  proof  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil.15  But  the 
insignificant  peltry  trade  had  little  interest  for  the  governors  of 
the  West  India  Company,  which  in  one  year  gained  sixty  million 
guilders  from  the  loot  of  the  Spaniards.  They  determined  to 
shift  the  burden  of  the  colonial  enterprise  by  extending  to  the 
colony  the  feudal  system  of  land-holding  which  obtained  in  the 
Netherlands.  This  was  done  by  the  Charter  of  Privileges  to 
Patroons  which  was  issued  in  1629. 16  This  resulted  in  the  officers 
of  the  company  obtaining  the  best  lands.  Michael  Pauw  secured 
Staten  Island  and  the  mainland  on  the  opposite  shore  of  the  North 
River  from  Manhattan,  a  district  of  great  value,  for  it  was  there 
that  the  natives  of  the  lower  river  were  accustomed  to  congregate 
to  traffic  with  the  company's  agents.  In  1637  the  corporation 
bought  out  Pauw's  rights.  Two  other  directors  appropriated 
what  is  now  the  state  of  Delaware,  and  a  fourth  director,  Kiliaean 
van  Rensselaer,  took  for  his  share  the  valuable  lands  that  enclosed 
the  company's  station  at  Fort  Orange.  So  by  1630  we  see  that  a 
great  part  of  the  land  about  the  bay  and  that  along  the  upper 


7 


stretches  of  the  river,  if  not  already  acquired  hy  purchase  from  the 
Indians  and  by  grant,  was  at  least  spoken  for. 

The  good  understanding  which  had  prevailed  between  the  Dutch 
and  the  Indians  for  many  years  after  the  first  settlement  of  the 
former,  had  begun  to  be  seriously  disturbed  as  the  colonists  grew 
stronger  and  became  more  aggressive.17  Throughout  early 
American  history,  so  long  as  the  white  invaders  were  fur  traders 
or  missionaries,  it  appears  that  there  was  peace  on  the  frontier; 
but  when  the  newcomers  were  farmers  or  planters,  Indian  war 
broke  out  before  very  long.  In  other  words,  while  their  hunting 
grounds  were  preserved  to  the  Indians,  they  looked  upon  the 
whites  as  the  benevolent  dispensers  of  useful  utensils,  articles  of 
personal  adornment,  fire-water,  and  sometimes  fire-arms ;  but 
when  the  whites  began  to  plow  the  soil  and  to  build  houses,  they 
seriously  interfered  with  the  Indian's  food  supply  and  with  the 
only  article  of  barter  for  which  the  white  trader  would  give  the 
Indian  those  things  which  he  desired.  Purchase  of  land  from 
Indian  chiefs,  fair  trading,  and  the  impartial  administration  of 
law  made  no  difference.  Deprived  of  his  land,  the  Indian  must 
fight  or  starve.  So  it  was  in  New  Netherland ;  as  long  as  the 
Dutchmen  came  as  fur  traders  there  was  peace;  as  soon  as  there 
was  colonization  there  was  war. 

To  conciliate  or  to  crush  seemed  to  be  the  alternatives  in  the 
Dutch  relations  with  the  Indians.  The  early  governors  at  Fort 
Amsterdam  made  but  few  attempts  to  conciliate  the  abori- 
gines— but  the  settlers  at  Fort  Orange  pursued  very  different 
methods,  forming  a  treaty  with  the  Indians,  and  by  this  means 
not  only  lived  in  peace,  but  established  a  guard  between  themselves 
and  any  encroachments  of  the  French  and  Algonquins  in  Canada. 
The  peace  was  never  broken  in  the  north,  whatever  broils  disturbed 
the  lower  waters  of  the  river.  The  friendship  of  the  Mohawks 
for  the  Dutch  in  the  early  days  of  Fort  Orange  was  not  altogether 
spontaneous.  It  was  in  great  part  actuated  by  a  desire  to  obtain 
fire-arms  from  the  traders  with  which  to  repulse  the  attacks  of 
their  deadly  enemies,  the  Algonquins,  who  had  been  armed  by  the 
French  in  Canada.  The  Algonquins  had  been  victorious  in  several 
attacks  on  the  Mohawks,  and  the  latter  hoped  to  secure  from  the 
Dutch  the  same  power  which  had  made  their  enemies  triumphant. 

8 


The  Dutch  were  wise  enough  to  make  instant  use  of  these  friendly 
sentiments  and  hastened  to  make  a  treaty  with  the  Five  Nations, 
the  Mohegans,  and  the  Lenni  Lenapes.  It  was  this  treaty  that 
secured  such  an  enduring  peace.18 

Wouter  van  Twiller  succeeded  Peter  Minuit  in  1633  and  his 
position  as  Governor  was  far  from  an  enviable  one.  Problems 
seemed  to  increase  daily.  He  began  to  build  a  fortified  town  about 
Fort  Amsterdam  at  the  southern  end  of  Manhattan  Island,  a  very 
necessary  precaution.  From  some  unexplained  cause  the  Raritan 
lavages,  soon  after  Van  Twiller's  arrival,  attacked  several  of  the 
company's  traders  and  showed  other  signs  of  hostility.  Peace, 
however,  was  restored  in  the  course  of  the  following  year ;  but 
the  savages  in  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Amsterdam  were  never 
afterward  as  friendly  and  cordial  toward  the  Dutch  as  were  the 
Mohawks  near  Fort  Orange.19 

The  Pequod  War  in  Connecticut,  which  began  in  1632,  was  not 
without  its  effects  in  New  Netherland.  Its  injurious  effects  did 
not  end  with  the  subjugation  and  enslavement  of  its  surviving 
victims.  Their  coveted  lands  were  indeed  won.  But  the  seeds  of 
enmity  were  sown  for  ages,  and  it  was  not  long  after  that  the 
Dutch  colonists  on  the  North  River  were  obliged  to  witness  as 
murderous  scenes  as  did  the  Puritan  conquerors  of  Connecticut.20 

The  successor  of  Governor  Van  Twiller,  William  Kieft,  who 
arrived  at  Manhattan  in  March,  1638,  was  destined  to  be  the 
cause  of  more  unhappiness  in  his  eight  years  of  rule  than  were  any 
of  his  predecessors  or  successors  at  Fort  Amsterdam.  A  year 
after  his  arrival,  Kieft's  indiscretion  hurried  him  into  the  adoption 
of  a  measure  which  produced,  before  long,  the  most  disastrous 
results.  Under  the  plea  that  the  company  was  burdened  with 
heavy  expenses  for  its  fortifications  and  garrisons  in  New  Nether- 
land, the  director  arbitrarily  resolved  to  "demand  some  tribute" 
of  maize,  furs,  or  sewan  from  the  neighboring  Indians,  "whom 
we  thus  far  have  defended  against  their  enemies,"  and  threatened, 
in  case  of  their  refusal,  to  employ  proper  measures  "to  remove 
their  reluctance."21 

Up  to  this  time  the  intercourse  between  the  Dutch  and  the 
Indians  had  been,  upon  the  whole,  friendly ;  and  with  the  opening 
of  the  fur  trade  a  large  prosperity  promised  to  visit  New  Nether- 


9 


land.  But  freedom  soon  ran  into  abuses;  and  the  temptation  of 
gain  led  to  injurious  excess.  The  colonists  soon  began  to  neglect 
agriculture  for  the  quicker  profits  of  traffic  with  the  savages.  To 
push  their  trade  to  the  best  advantage  the  colonists  had  separated 
themselves  from  each  other  and  settled  their  abodes  "far  in  the 
interior  of  the  country."  Presently  they  began  to  allure  the 
savages  to  their  houses  "by  excessive  familiarity  and  treating." 
This  soon  brought  them  into  contempt  with  the  Indians  who,  not 
being  always  used  with  impartiality,  naturally  became  jealous. 
Some  of  the  savages,  too,  were  employed  as  domestic  servants  by 
the  Dutch.  This  unwise  conduct  only  produced  evil.  The 
Indians  frequently  stole  more  than  the  amount  of  their  wages; 
and,  running  away,  they  acquainted  their  tribes  with  the  habits, 
mode  of  life,  and  exact  numerical  strength  of  the  colonists.  The 
knowledge  thus  gained  was  used,  before  long,  with  fatal  effect 
against  the  Europeans,  whose  presence  now  began  to  inconvenience 
the  aborigines.  For  the  colonists,  in  their  avidity  to  procure 
peltries,  neglected  their  cattle,  which,  straying  away  without  herds- 
men, injured  the  un fenced  corn  fields  of  the  savages.  The  Indians 
avenged  themselves  by  killing  the  cattle  and  even  the  horses  of  the 
Dutch.22  The  situation,  already  bad  enough,  was  further  compli- 
cated by  Kieft's  clumsy  handling  of  an  altercation  on  Staten 
Island.  A  theft  had  been  falsely  charged  to  the  Raritan  Indians 
and  without  waiting  to  make  investigations  Kieft  sent  out  a  puni- 
tive expedition  of  seventy-  men,  who  attacked  the  innocent  natives, 
killed  a  number  of  them,  and  laid  waste  their  crops.  This  stupid 
and  wicked  attack  still  further  exasperated  the  Indians.  "A 
hankering  after  war  had  wrholly  seized  on  the  director."  Shortly 
after  the  Staten  Island  affair  it  happened  that  an  Indian  murdered 
a  Dutchman  in  revenge  for  the  death  of  his  uncle  years  before. 
Kieft  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  murderer,  but  the  chief  would 
not  consider  it,  and  offered  to  give  retribution  in  wampum.  In 
this  emergency  Kieft  called  a  council  of  twelve  prominent 
burghers  and  this  body  advised  the  director  not  to  attack  the 
savages,  as  he  was  so  eager  to  do.  But  in  the  winter  of  1642, 
Kieft  found  his  sought  for  opportunity  of  obtaining  the  lands  of 
the  YVeckquaskeek  Indians.  That  tribe,  fleeing  before  a  raid  of 
their  dreaded  enemies,  the  Mohawks  of  the  North,  abandoned  their 


10 


village  on  the  river  near  the  present  Hastings,  and  came  in  the 
depth  of  winter  to  Manhattan  Island,  and  to  Pavonia  on  the  west 
side  of  the  river,  where  they  encamped  in  a  very  destitute  and 
starving  condition.  Their  pitiable  plight  excited  the  commisera- 
tion of  many  of  the  Dutch,  who  furnished  them  with  food.  Not 
so  with  Kief t,  however ;  to  him  it  appeared  as  a  good  opportunity, 
provided  by  Providence,  to  settle  up  old  scores,  and  by  extermi- 
nating the  Indians,  to  facilitate  the  expansion  of  the  colony.  He 
sent  out  two  bands  of  soldiers,  who  returned  after  a  massacre 
which  disgraced  the  Director,  enraged  the  natives,  and  endangered 
the  colony.  More  than  a  hundred  Indians,  men,  women,  and 
children,  were  killed  by  the  most  barbarous  methods.  The  natural 
consequences  of  such  an  act  followed  swiftly.  The  thirty  or  forty 
farm  houses  that  were  on  Manhattan  Island  were  reduced  to  four 
or  five  that  still  remained  standing,  and,  with  the  exception  of  the 
few  who  escaped  to  the  town  to  dwell  "in  huts  of  straw"  around 
the  Fort,  the  settlers  were  slain  or  carried  into  captivity  by  the 
enraged  Indians.  There  were  but  few  of  the  inhabitants  of  New 
Netherland  who  did  not  severely  suffer,  either  directly  or  indi- 
rectly, by  this  foolhardy  and  cruel  policy  of  Kieft,  and  he  and  his 
advisers  were  bitterly  attacked  by  all  classes  of  the  community  in 
consequence.23  The  Algonquin  uprising  lasted  for  two  years  and 
resulted  in  the  death  of  about  sixteen  hundred  savages,  but  left 
the  border  settlement  in  ruins  and  checked  colonial  growth  for 
several  years.  The  Algonquins  being  enemies  of  the  Mohawks, 
the  friendship  originally  formed  between  the  Dutch  and  the  latter 
was  not  disturbed  by  this  outbreak. 

On  the  approach  of  spring  in  1643,  when  the  Indians  had  to 
plant  their  corn,  or  face  famine,  sachems  of  the  Long  Island 
Indians  sought  a  parley  with  the  Dutch.  De  Vries,  the  Captain, 
offered  to  meet  the  savages  and  in  the  woods  near  Rockaway  found 
nearly  three  hundred  Indians  assembled.  Here  one  of  the  sachems 
expressed  his  feelings  in  most  eloquent  and  telling  words ;  "When 
you  first  came  to  our  shores  you  were  destitute  of  food.  We 
gave  you  our  beans  and  corn;  we  fed  you  with  oysters  and  fish; 
and  now,  for  our  recompense,  you  murder  our  people."24 
De  Vries  invited  the  chiefs  to  accompany  him  to  the  Fort,  to  which 
they  consented,  so  that  the  director  might  give  them  presents  to 


11 


prepare  the  way  for  peace.  The  presents  that  Kieft  gave  the 
Indians  were  so  niggardly  that  the  Indians  went  away  with  rancour 
still  in  their  hearts,  although  a  treaty  had  been  made  with  them 
and  another  was  made  with  the  River  Indians  a  month  later.  But 
the  trouble  was  far  from  over. 

On  Long  Island,  from  the  advent  of  the  first  white  men,  the 
Dutch  and  English  had  respected  the  rights  of  the  Indians,  and 
no  land  was  taken  up  by  the  several  towns,  or  by  individuals,  until 
it  had  been  fairly  purchased  of  the  tribe  that  claimed  it.  The 
Dutch  on  the  west  end,  and  the  English  on  the  east  end  of  the 
Island,  maintained  a  constant  friendship  with  the  natives  in  their 
respective  neighborhoods,  and  while  they  were  friendly  with  each 
other,  the  Indians  from  one  end  of  the  Island  to  the  other  were 
friendly  with  both.25 

The  miserable  Governor  Kieft  was  succeeded  by  a  most  capable 
man,  Peter  Stuyvesant,  in  1647.  Stuyvesant  believed  in  giving 
the  Indians  just  and  conciliatory  treatment  by  reason  of  the  power 
possessed  by  the  natives  of  doing  harm  to  the  colony.  The  decade 
following  Kieft's  treaty  at  Fort  Amsterdam  had  been  more  or 
less  friendly  in  the  relations  of  the  Dutch  and  the  Indians.  But 
a  new  provocation  in  1655  now  roused  the  red  men  to  vengeance. 
Van  Dyck,  the  superseded  schout-fiscal,  had  killed  a  squaw  for 
stealing  some  peaches  from  his  orchard.  This  served  to  the 
Indians  as  an  overt  act.  In  the  absence  of  Director-General 
Stuyvesant  and  his  forces,  who  had  started  a  few  days  before  on 
an  expedition  against  the  Swedes  on  the  Delaware,  they  attacked 
the  almost  defenseless  settlements.  A  force  of  about  nineteen 
hundred  Indians  suddenly  appeared  before  New  Amsterdam  in 
sixty-four  canoes.  They  landed  before  daybreak  and,  wandering 
through  the  streets,  they  entered  several  houses.  The  inhabitants 
were  terrified,  but  managed  to  persuade  the  Indians  to  leave 
Manhattan  at  sunset  and  pass  over  to  Nutten  Island.  But  when 
evening  came  the  savages  broke  their  word.  Van  Dyck  was  shot 
with  an  arrow  in  the  breast  and  Van  der  Grist  was  struck  down 
with  an  axe.  The  town  was  instantly  aroused  and  the  few  resi- 
dent soldiers  attacked  the  Indians  and  drove  them  to  their  canoes. 
Passing  over  to  the  Jersey  shore,  the  savages  laid  waste  Hoboken 
and  Pavonia,  and  killed  or  captured  most  of  the  inhabitants. 
Staten  Island  was  desolated.    In  three  days  one  hundred  of  the 


12 


Dutch  inhabitants  were  killed,  one  hundred  and  fifty  were  taken 
prisoner  and  three  hundred  more  ruined  in  estate.  Many  of  the 
farmers  fled  to  Manhattan  for  refuge.  The  few  families  who 
had  settled  themselves  at  Esopus  abandoned  their  farms  in  alarm. 
Even  Manhattan  itself  was  not  secure.  Prowling  bands  of 
savages  wandered  over  the  island,  destroying  all  that  came  in  their 
way.26  On  his  return  Stuyvesant  acted  toward  the  Indians  in  a 
manner  that  was  kind  and  conciliating,  and  at  the  same  time  he 
provided  against  a  repetition  of  the  recent  disaster  by  erecting 
blockhouses  at  various  points  and  by  concentrating  the  settlers  for 
mutual  defense.  By  this  policy  of  mingled  diplomacy  and  prepara- 
tion against  attack,  Stuyvesant  preserved  peace  for  a  period  of 
three  years.  But  troubles  with  the  Indians  continued  to  disturb 
the  colonies  on  the  river  and  centered  at  Esopus,  where  slaughters 
of  both  white  and  red  men  occurred.  Eight  white  men  were 
burned  at  the  stake  in  revenge  for  shots  fired  by  Dutch  soldiers, 
and  an  Indian  chief  was  killed  with  his  own  tomahawk.  In  1660 
a  treaty  of  peace  was  framed ;  but  three  years  later  we  find  the  two 
races  again  embroiled.  Thus  Indian  wars  continued  down  to  the 
close  of  Dutch  rule.27 

Treaties  and  Expansion 

In  September,  1664,  New  Netherland  was  taken  over  by  the 
English  under  Colonel  Nicolls  and  the  Dutch  territory  was  split 
up,  the  main  division  being  what  is  now  known  as  the  State  of 
New  York.  The  Dutch  in  their  fifty  years  of  rule  had  planted 
many  colonies,  almost  all  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and  when 
the  English  came  into  power  there  were  few  of  their  countrymen 
in  the  former  Dutch  colony.  The  principal  settlements  of  the 
Dutch  were  New  Amsterdam  and  Harlem,  on  Manhattan  Island; 
Brooklyn,  Flatbush,  Utrecht,  Bushwick,  Ulyssen,  Middlebury, 
Hempstead,  Gravesend,  and  Oysterbay  on  Long  Island ;  Richmond 
and  other  small  hamlets  on  Staten  Island ;  Esopus  in  Ulster 
County;  Beverwick  in  Albany  County;  and  Rensselaerswick  in 
the  same  county  and  Rensselaer  County;  Schenectady,  in  the 
county  of  the  same  name;  not  to  mention  those  in  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania,  and  Delaware.  Forts  and  blockhouses  had  been 
erected  in  all  these  places  for  defence  and  security.    New  Amster- 


13 


dam,  it  is  likely,  contained  not  far  from  two  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  Dutch  had  tried  their  strength  with  the  natives  at  Horse  Neck, 
New  Amsterdam,  on  Long  Island  and  Staten  Island,  Esopus,  and 
other  places,  and  had  proved  victorious  in  every  contest.  The  red 
men  had  had  to  make  ignominious  peace  with  them  and  confess 
their  prowess.28  This  is  the  testimony  of  one  historian,  but  it 
seems  doubtful  if  his  words  are  either  historically  correct  or 
judiciously  chosen.  The  Dutch  had  not  been  invariably  victorious, 
far  from  it;  and  if  ignominious  peace  was  the  result  of  treaties  it 
was  often  because  of  the  unfair  advantage  taken  by  the  white 
men  with  their  greater  knowledge  of  legal  and  business  matters. 

From  the  beginning  of  Dutch  settlement  along  the  Hudson,  wars 
had  been  continually  going  on  between  the  French  and  the  Indians. 
In  order  to  understand  the  development  of  the  Colony  of  New 
York  something  must  be  said  about  the  conditions  which  prevailed 
in  the  province  during  that  troubled  epoch.  The  penurious  policy 
pursued  by  the  Dutch  and  continued  by  the  English  left  the  colony 
without  defenses  on  either  the  northern  or  southern  boundaries. 
For  a  long  time  the  settlers  found  themselves  bulwarked  against 
the  French  on  the  north  by  the  steadfast  friendship  of  the  Five 
Nations;  but  at  last  these  trusting  allies  began  to  feel  that  the 
English  were  not  doing  their  share  in  the  war.  The  lack  of  mili- 
tary preparation  in  New  York  was  inexcusable.  When  the 
Indians,  under  the  leadership  of  the  French,  actually  took  the  war- 
path, the  colonists  at  last  awoke  to  their  peril.29 

After  the  advent  of  the  English  we  hear  little  of  the  Dutch 
collectively,  though  good  Dutch  names  almost  predominate  in  the 
annals  of  the  early  Colony  of  New  York.  There  appears  to  have 
been,  however,  a  jealousy  among  the  English  colonists  in  regard 
to  the  Dutch  of  Schenectady  who  were  charged  with  misrepresent- 
ing the  intentions  of  the  English  toward  the  Mohawks.  This  may 
have  been  one  of  the  factors  which  caused  the  Five  Nations  to 
become  doubtful  about  the  alliance  with  the  English,  which  had 
come  as  a  natural  sequel  to  their  alliances  with  the  Dutch.  How- 
ever no  schism  took  place,  and  new  treaties  of  alliance  were  made 
with  the  Five  Nations  under  the  wise  leadership  of  Sir  William 
Johnson,  a  representative  endowed  with  deep  knowledge  of  the 
Indian  character.  Albany,  and  the  work  of  Sir  William  Johnson, 
is  described  by  a  traveller  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century 


14 


as  follows :  "The  settlement  at  Albany  was  no  longer  an  insulated 
region  ruled  and  defended  by  the  wisdom  and  courage  diffused 
through  the  general  mass  of  the  inhabitants ;  but  began  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  things  to  incorporate  with  the  general  colony.  The 
Mohawk  Indians  were  so  engaged  by  treaties  to  assist  the  army 
in  its  more  regular  operations  to  the  westward,  that  they  came  less 
frequently  to  visit  Albany.  A  line  of  forts  had,  at  prodigious 
expense,  been  erected,  leading  from  Albany  to  Upper  Canada  by 
the  Mohawk  River,  and  the  lakes  of  Ontario,  Niagara,  etc." 

So,  in  retrospect,  two  main  facts  are  evident  about  the  subse- 
quent development  of  the  Colony  of  New  York  as  affected  by  the 
relations  of  the  early  Dutch  with  the  Indians :  On  the  lower 
reaches  of  the  river  and  about  Manhattan  Island  the  numerous 
conflicts  between  the  whites  and  the  red  men  had  led  both  to  the 
extermination  of  certain  tribes  and  to  the  subjugation  of  the  others 
by  a  system  of  terrorization.  Hence  those  fertile  and  accessible 
regions  were  opened  to  the  rapid  colonization  that  soon  took  place ; 
on  the  upper  reaches  of  the  river,  in  Rensselaerswick,  and  about 
Fort  Orange,  the  relations  with  the  Indians  had  always  been 
amicable,  and  the  traders  and  missionaries  who,  passing  through 
the  forests  west  of  Albany,  had  accepted  the  hospitality  of  the 
tribes  of  the  Five  Nations,  had  blazed  a  trail  which  the  settlers 
were  gradually  to  follow.  The  constant  friendship  between  the 
Mohawks  and  the  colonists  was  the  most  important  factor  in  the 
development  of  the  colony. 

Taking  a  general  view  of  the  American  nation,  it  is  now  easy  to 
see  that  it  was  fortunate  that  the  European  met  in  the  Indian  so 
formidable  an  antagonist ;  such  fierce  and  untamed  savages  could 
never  be  held  long  as  slaves ;  and  thus  were  the  colonists  of  the 
north  saved  from  the  temptations  and  the  moral  dangers  which 
come  from  contact  with  a  numerous  servile  race.  Every  step  of 
progress  into  the  wilderness  being  stubbornly  contested,  the  spirit 
of  hardihood  and  bravery,  the  essential  element  in  nation  building, 
was  fostered  among  the  frontiersmen;  and  as  settlement  moved 
westward  slowly,  only  so  fast  as  the  pressure  of  population  on  the 
seaboard  impelled  it,  the  Dutch  and  English  were  prevented  from 
planting  scattered  colonies  in  the  interior,  and  a  more  solid  front 
was  presented  to  the  Indians. 


15 


References 


1  Bancroft  (G.),  History  of  New  York  (Boston,  1839),  p.  268. 

2  Schoolcraft  (H.  R.),  N.  Y.  Historical  Society  Proceedings  (New  York, 
1844).  pp.  89  et  seq. 

'Brodhead  (J.  R.).  History  of  New  York  (New  York,  1853),  pp.  73 

et  seq. 

4  Albany  Records  XVIII,  p.  348. 

5  Brodhead,  op.  cit.,  p.  74. 

"Wilson  (J.  G.),  Memorial  History  of  New  York  (New  York,  1892), 
Vol.  I,  p.  47. 

7  Goodwin  (M.  W.)i  Dutch  and  English  on  the  Hudson  (New  Haven, 
1920),  p.  124. 

8  Macauley  (J.),  History  of  New  York  (New  York,  1829),  Vol.  II,  pp. 
185  et  seq. 

0  Goodwin,  op.  cit.,  p.  124. 

10  Macauley,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  296. 

11  Macauley,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  288. 

12  Goodwin,  op.  cit.,  p.  38. 

18  Macauley,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  186. 
14  Goodwin,  op.  cit.,  pp.  22  et  seq. 

"Hildreth  (R.),  History  of  New  York  (New  York,  1849),  Vol.  I,  p.  141. 
16Channing  (E.),  A  History  of  the  United  States  (New  York,  1912), 
Vol.  I,  p.  447. 

17  Innes  (J.  H.),  New  Amsterdam  and  Its  People  (New  York,  1902), 
p.  97. 

18  Goodwin,  op.  cit.,  p.  125. 

19  Brodhead,  op.  cit.,  p.  244. 

20  Brodhead,  op.  cit.,  p.  272. 

21  Albany  Records,  II,  pp.  46,  47,  65. 

22  Brodhead,  op.  cit.,  pp.  307  et  seq. 

23  Innes,  op.  cit.,  pp.  22  et  seq. 

24Dunlap  (Wm.),  History  of  New  York  (New  York,  1839),  Vol.  I,  p.  72. 
23  Macauley,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  260. 

26  Brodhead,  op.  cit.,  pp.  602  et  seq. 

27  Goodwin,  op.  cit.,  pp.  74  et  seq. 

28  Macauley,  op.  cit.,  p.  370. 

29  Goodwin,  op.  cit.,  p.  218. 

And  numerous  other  historical  works. 


16 


